Explode
by yume girl 91
Summary: Feudal Japan's a land of explosions and mechanical horses charging down hillsides, Rukia learns. Throw in a wild eyepatch wearing man who just won't take no for an answer and this Death Goddess has her hands full. MasamunexRukia AU
AN: I'm aware that Bleach is set in modern times, but bear with me on the timeframe difference, besides Sengoku Basara's world is really way out. AU, Lyrics to Clumsy

The first time that I saw your eyes  
You looked right through me, mmm, mmm  
Play it cool, but I knew you knew  
That cupid hit me, mmm, mmm

-Clumsy, Fergie

.*.

Rukia had a problem. If being deployed with cheery smiles (they claimed it was an honor) to a remote forest in the Sengoku Jidai, wasn't hell - well, it sure as hell came close to it. Almost every other day some idiotic warlord would wage war on the province neighboring theirs; the offshoot being hundreds if not thousands of soldier spirits were left for one lone Death Goddess to perform Konso on, thereby allowing them to pass to their deserved afterlife- er- Soul Society not their version of Nirvana.

She was never one to care in actuality, seated in a leafy tree perch to the east of the battlefield, commanding a view of well - everything. To the west, armor-clad troops were lead by a youth in flaming red while to the north a line of horsemen stood on the sheer cliff.

The centermost soon lead the charge, yelling in rough accent-tinted English, "Are you ready, guys? Put your guns on!" The sentence surprised her, she hadn't thought the western influence had spread so far in. Somewhat more interested in the proceedings, she watched the men descend in a hailstorm of dust and explosions breaking up the enemy line.

Like with all war games the little Daimyo boys played, it had to end with a blood-soaked field - one that wasn't entirely empty. The enemy Takeda camp had retreated some six miles with the smoke of their campfires lingering in the distance, the other banner remained, searching the field for one man in particular.

She ignored them and made short work on a cluster of shaking-knee foot soldiers that all raised their katanas at her approach.

"I'm sending you to a better place." She said soothingly, sure they thought her black robes a sign of evil. They all gave her dubious looks but received the glowing mark of Konso on their foreheads. Satisfied, she made short work of the fringes, cutting into the forest when a malevolent presence descended. The Hollow appeared at odds to the lush greenery of the forest floor, pools of shadow remained untouched from the late afternoon sunshine. It stood out with shaggy dirty white fur, protruding horns on its spine and thicker hindquarters gave it a very malformed appearance. Rukia crept up on it, withdrawing Sode no Shirayuki silently as the thing pawed at a thick copse of undergrowth. She glimpsed the seepage of blood staining the green ground, hearing as well the dying neigh of a horse nearby.

Clearly the damned thing had searched out one of the soldiers from the battlefield.

Irritated for no reason, she leapt up and cut through the powerful neck, spattering the leaves with fresh blood. The Hollow barely uttered a cry save for a whimper of disappointment. Rukia landed gracefully and strode over to peer closer into the shrubs. As she had thought, there was a man in lacquered ocean blue armor lying on his back, his crescent moon helmet was askew, releasing disheveled shocks of brown hair to frame his narrow features.

The cause of his unconscious state was a wound seeming to have been made by a spear that had pierced his side, shattering a portion of the chest plate.

Rukia leaned back, quickly assessing the likelihood of survival. _Not high...considering the fact that he was almost a Hollow's lunch_. She heard the nearby rustling of undergrowth, the distant call of men's voices, yelling that they had found 'Date-sama's horse'.

She looked in the direction of the humans then back to the man who lingered a stone's throw from death herself. Konso was impossible until the spirit left the body. If she let them find him, he'd be taken to some Yamashiro and would probably die in a few days - leaving her to travel the distance and perform the necessary soul rites- _riiiiiiiiiiiight_. Why go through all that trouble when she could just... _slip a little healing energy into the wound_...

She gathered a little kido into her palm and bent over, applying the soothing light to the worst of the gash, rewarded when the skin began to knit, the bleeding stopping. Within moments she was done, dusting her hands off, Rukia surveyed her work with more than a little bit of pride.

The man would wake up in a few hours, his comrades would find him, the end result being he'd get to wage another war - thereby creating more work for her. Oh joy. She mirthlessly turned on her heel and began to stride away when abruptly the bushes rustled, a groan came from them and then a croaking definitely male voice, "h-halt!"

It was definitely the same voice she'd heard yell in English.

 _Who cared?_ She didn't.

"Halt, I said!" he barked even louder. Rukia sighed and turned, tilting a questioning eyebrow as two twin katana blades were pointed in her face. For an injured human, he moved fast. Though she was slightly impressed, that didn't mean her annoyance didn't skyrocket at his audacity.

"You meathead! Is that how you treat someone who healed you!?" she roared, evading his unsteady katana grip and ramming her tiny fist into his predatorial smirk. The irritation-inspiring Samurai stumbled back, dropping his katanas in order to stem the flow of fresh blood streaming from his nose.

"You-" he garbled out just as a taller, older man crashed onto the scene, panting heavily. "Masamune-sama! Are you-"

The man the newcomer addressed didn't pay attention to him, rather his furious one-eye was fixated on Rukia. "How dare you-"

"Shut up, idiot! You're going to open up your wound again!"

"Who cares! You hit me! Me! Date Masamune-sama!" he jabbed a bloody hand to his chest plate and torn outer blue haori. "Show some damned respect!"

"Uh, My Lord-" the forgotten retainer tried to interrupt.

"Shut up already!" Rukia snapped, her fist forming and flying without care into the Daimyo-boy's nose.

...

After the strange woman had vanished over the treetops, Kojuro Katakura went over and dropped down to his Lord. "Are you alright, sir?" He asked worriedly.

"Kojuro...I think I'm ...in love." The dazed one-eyed Dragon said and with that single enigmatic sentence to the incredulous man, collapsed in a clank of armor.

...

Men were difficult, not that Rukia had had much experience in that department. Casual friends, a crush once on her Fukutaichou and no more. The boys all said she hit too hard, didn't act like a lady - all behind her back of course. She measured her standards invariably high therefore wasn't insulted by the lack of suitors - little did she know the kind of picture she made to the Lord of Sendai Province.

...

"What can you tell me on how to court - I mean, _woo_...a woman?"

Kasuga had not been expecting that, She was kind enough not to laugh at the senior retainer's (though an enemy of her Lord's interests) serious and quite intent expression. She had the strangest feeling the man was sincere. "Excuse me?" And extricated her wrist from his no-nonsense grip.

Kojuro colored some in the pale moonlight, "ah, well you're a woman so - ..."

"F-for you?"

He shook his head too quickly, a look of appalment coming over his face. "Oh goodness, no!" Looking even more uncomfortable, he shiftily glanced about - though they couldn't be more alone in the grounds of the estate. "I-it's for...m-my Lord."

 _Date Masamune...?_ A political marriage occurred to her first, a worrisome notion the idea of a more united clan going against the Uesugi fiefdom, then Kasuga blinked and realized something was off. A political arrangement between clans didn't need the advice of female persuasion, so it had to be someone else. More curiously, Kasuga asked, "what's she like? Tell me, so I can get a feel for her character."

"Hmm...well, short," Katakura measured with his hand about so high - more or less to his elbow. "Dark hair, very large violet eyes and a very short temper. I suppose she's cute but no beauty like yourself."

"Thanks." Kasuga blushed a little, a compliment was a compliment even if one was a spy caught in the gardens of the opposing force and said enemy says something nice about your looks. The situation couldn't have gotten any stranger other than the fact that Date's retainer was asking advice on how to get the girl for said Lord.

"Oh and she wears black robes and carries a katana like a warrior." Kojuro added thoughtfully. "I've never seen her fight with it but I presume she isn't unskilled."

Kasuga nodded through this; sounded either like a ninja like herself or a Shinigami. "So...has she showed an interest in your Lord?"

"Uh...no." The retainer visibly wilted. "Therein lies the problem, I'm sure the Uesugi have heard of the skirmish between the Takeda faction and our own forces?"

Rather than give an obvious lie, she simply nodded.

"Well, he met her in the forest...I'm not sure if anything else passed between them, but my Lord maintains she's... _ah_ the woman for him." Katakura clearly was embarrassed imparting such sensitive knowledge - more like gossip, so much so that she started to feel sorry for the man having such a headstrong young Lord. _Her Lord was no_ _ **springchick**_ _as the saying went, but was more beautiful_ \- she had to shake those thoughts away, focusing on Katakura's hopeful expression.

"Has he...tried flowers?"

Katakura hung his head, "a retinue of four Courtiers presented them to her tree-post."

"Well it's possible that your Lord's intentions weren't carried through. Women are sensitive to these kinds of things." she said knowledgeably, crossing her arms over her ample bosom and nodding. "He should go himself and take a simple but tasteful bouquet-"

"Like what kind would you suggest?"

"Water lilies."

Katakura seemed to think on it for a moment longer then nodded, "I'll talk to him about it. I hope this gains some kind of response...everyone's been on pins and needles with his mood swings of late." The man winced, recollecting recent incidents.

Her sympathy for the man nearly dissolved in the next statement.

"Once Lord Masamune's mind is relieved in the course of his successful courtship, he will refocus on other more important matters..." wisely Kojuro trailed off, though his smug expression said it all. The Uesugi spy thought disdainfully, - _like conquering Japan_.

...

It was that time once again for Rukia to detail her report sent via Jigokucho unaware as she was of other plans for future courtship, her mind dwelt more toward battles, skirmishes, the disturbing number of Hollows and something about the Demon King? Sometimes it all seemed too much for one lone Death Goddess to handle.

She wasn't going to add it - thought twice - started writing - then stopped, shook her head and finally muttered, "oh what the hell..." and began detailing her grievances involving a certain eyepatch-wearing Daimyo.

\- _"Dear, Taichou._

 _How have you been? Get enough rest! How's Kaien-dono and Miyako-san? Tell Kiyone and Sentaro to stop fighting! Things have been going well..._

Here, she stopped entirely and redipped her special pink Chappy stylus in a nearby pot of ink.

 _\- ...the exception being a human male who's a minor Lord of the bordering province. He -_

Rukia bit her lip and couldn't make herself write 'courting me' couldn't even think those words without a warmth spreading across her decidedly pink cheeks which she refused to even think meant that...she was the teeny...tiniest bit flattered by the attentions.

No. Kuchiki Rukia refused to think that the very human Date Masamune was attractive, so there!

 _\- annoys me with his attentions so I would like to request a transfer with the Shinigami stationed in Echigo province._

 _Sincerely, Kuchiki Rukia of the Thirteenth Division_.-

Enclosing with her missive, a drawing (one of her better ones, she thought with pride) of a girl bunny in black robes being pestered by a blue-clad bunny in armor, she sent it posthaste tied to a Jigokucho's back, never imagining the response it would garner.

...

Kaien read her letter aloud to a bedridden Ukitake, whose expression beamed true joy at the artistically bad portrait.

"How sweet! Someone likes our little Rukia!"

"Seems so," the Fukutaichou of Thirteenth said, no less pleased. In fact he was grinning from ear to ear. "You're not going to grant her request for a transfer, sir, are you?" Kaien seated himself at the little table, taking up one of the tea cups his wife had filled. Ukitake's eyes twinkled, he coughed delicately into a handkerchief.

"Of course not! He may be human, but every young woman needs a romance or two...am I right, Miyako-chan?"

Said woman blushed shyly to her husband.

...

To say Rukia wasn't flummoxed by the added 'good luck' sign accompanying Ukitake's reply, was an understatement. "Good luck for what!?" she raged in her forest clearing. Later on that day when on a routine inspection for Hollows, she heard the distant pounding of horse hooves on rock and turned sharply to the surrounding cliff - as if on cue, like a warped fairytale knight, a mechanical horse came thundering down the cliffside bearing a familiar rider in full armor.

Her jaw threatened to drop.

"Deaaaaressst!" The rider yelled in very _bad_ Engrish, the sound carrying to neighboring Echigo province where it is said teacups rattled) and sending a multitude of birds flying into the sky from the nearby trees.

Her jaw _did_ drop as the Lord of Sendai brandished a katana (nearly) in her face, a bundle tied by tasteful dark blue ribbon falling in her arms. "Who the hell!" Rukia roared when she had recovered sufficiently (and the rider had charged back up the cliff to the waiting army)

...

After he left - that _audacious_ , ridiculous excuse for a human; she glanced over the bouquet.

She had to admit, though grudgingly.

They were _rather_ nice flowers.

...

Despite herself, Kasuga was curious, taking the back way to the garden enclosure. She had been in hours' past, relaying a message to her Lord about the Takeda army movements, but secretly wondered about another Lord and his conquest (however unwilling it was)

"Any response?" she couldn't be blamed for employing Kunoichi skills; Kojuro started at the sound of her voice, sheepishly turning around from searching the shrubs.

"As a matter of fact, my Lord was very pleased. From what I gather on him taking your advice, the lady had no objections to ... _erm_ the flowers."

She nodded, unable to resist smiling, "and?"

"And...there's nothing else to tell."

"What do you mean? Doesn't he know anymore about her? What she likes or-or-"

"He...simply announced himself and thrust the flowers at her at the end of one of...his katanas." Katakura said with a shake of his head; though it was undoubtedly a very skillful display, she sighed at the idiocy of men.

"At least tell me...he knows her name?" Kasuga tried with a hopeful smile.

"Unfortunately no."

"Okaaaay. Maybe subtlety isn't going to work."

...

"Explosions! I want simultaneous eruptions of the Date family crest! Use lots of gunpowder!"

Several 'yes, milords' followed with the attendants scuttling to and fro, trying to carry out the master's increasingly odd wishes.

Kojuro struggled to keep up to his Lord's quick pace. "Is that.. _safe_ , sir?"

"Probably not." Masamune shrugged elaborately, leading the senior retainer to face-palm albeit in thought only. He struggled to keep his composure in choosing his next words with care. "My Lord, perhaps you are jumping the proverbial gun a little?"

"How so?" On this day he had chosen to attire himself in dark blue hakama printed on each thigh with the ornate symbol of the Date family, a white kimono of fine quality above that. Masamune was still wearing a _cocky_ self-assured smile that meant he was _still_ in a good mood. Pity, Kojuro knew how quickly that could change.

"Maybe you could learn the maiden's name _first_?"

"There's plenty enough time for that later!"

"Ah, well...if you say so."

"I know so! Don't you dare be second-guessing me in anything!"

"I wouldn't dream of it, my Lord."

"Good. Prepare my horse."

...

"How bad was it?"

"Think hearts exploding in the sky."

Kasuga raised a blond brow at the shuttered-in expression of the elder man, carefully remarking, "well that was ...original. Sweet, actually." _Given_ _Date's thick-headedness where romancing was concerned_ , she thought but didn't add.

"I have no doubt that our enemies saw the entire display."

"Takeda?"

"Oda."

She saw his point, the Demon King was the worst possible enemy to have in a budding romance. "How about...a walk on the seaside?"

...

There was the usual stampede of horses bearing the standard of the Date family.

 _A retinue of four_ , she saw, eyeing their approach from some distance away. The courtiers were all elegantly dressed in dusty court clothing and one in the center bore a scroll which he unfurled grandly once they reached her usual clearing. Rukia paused in her absent doodling on a scrap of parchment, sitting as she was on a high pine limb some twenty feet away.

"The Lord and Protector of Sendai wishes to extend an invitation to you to-"

She snorted and leapt down, "no." They all started at her abrupt motion, the horses nickering, stamping their hooves. The riders reined them in and the courtier gathered his courage. "- for you to join him on a tour of the-"

"Not interested."

"-coast." The courtier persisted, visibly sweating. She had no idea the kind of furies the Lord of Sendai flew into if he thought the courtiers hadn't presented his case for courtship well enough. "What say you?"

She tossed her head, glaring at the poor man clutching the ornate scroll as if it were a lifeline.

"N-O - No. Do I make myself clear?"

"Our Lord awaits a favorable answer, he-"

"-can shove his unwanted attentions elsewhere!" she snapped, uncaring whether or not she was rude. She was a death Goddess simply filling her mission for kamisakes! Fed up with the whole situation, she stamped her sandaled foot and set off at a brisk run, ignoring the courtiers calling after her.

 _This was getting ridiculous_.

...

"What do you want from me?!" Rukia could be excused for sounding breathless. She was racing through the treetops while below a fast galloping horse kept pace. Her Shunpo was meager at best, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try and outrun the persistent nuisance.

"I've come to court you!" he shouted boldly; Rukia missed the next limb due to his declaration and whacked her head ducking it. "Ouch!" she cried, rubbing at the sizeable lump upside her head, leaping back down, the tall crisp grasses whipped her legs and the horse's flanks. She carefully avoided looking at the man - who she knew was _looking at her_ , she could just feel it! Though on another part, she could say he was also a good horseman, able to avoid the common pitfalls of racing through a forested area, meaning she tripped over a fallen tree trunk while the horse reared up and over it never breaking stride.

"Are you alright?" He had the decency to ask, slowing the black steed down and turning around all with a light touch on the reins. Rukia picked herself up off the ground, leaves flittering from her knees. "Yeah, no thanks to you." she growled, glaring. Her fury had little effect on the man save to elicit a slight chuckle, a command issued a moment later, containing all the imperiousness of the noble-born.

"Follow me."

"Where to?"

"Just come."

She regretted immensely how ineffectual her glowers were. "I'm not moving 'til you get off the horse." _Now who was being childish?_ she thought vindictively as Mr. high-horse himself sniffed and swung his leg over, dropping elegantly to the ground.

"Satisfied?"

Rukia suppressed her tiny smile of triumph, courteously motioning with her hand - _after you_. The foolish Daimyo boy had the gall to actually smirk and walk ahead leaving her in his proverbial dust, obviously of the mind that she had been sufficiently awed by his presence to accord him the respect he didn't deserve.

Furious, she ground her teeth together until he made some obscure comment about how sexy it was when a woman gnashed her teeth. Rukia flushed, huffing. To every sarcasm she spewed, he had repartee to return. He was either her match in bite or was the densest Daimyo this side of Japan. Probably the latter. From the corner of her eye, she observed the smile playing on his lips, reflecting the face to complete the package wasn't wholly... _distasteful_. He possessed a greater stamina than that of a normal human and for sure had abilities that allowed him to see her.

She wasn't used to this. It was...refreshing.

Of course his good points were far outweighed by his bad points. She sighed to herself, wondering why she was even wasting brain waves on the jerk. "So, what should I call you? I can't keep calling you, _you_." other than _bane-of-my-existence_ , Rukia thought, but didn't add, strolling to one side of the man while he led the horse by the reins.

"My most gracious and awe-inspiring Lord, is good."

"I prefer 'meathead'." Rukia pronounced judiciously with a smirk; amazed he could praise himself with a straight face. Said Lord scowled, suitably offended. She wondered how many people had ever dared to insult the Dokuganryu and live.

"Hmph! Maybe we should stick to simple ' _Masamune-dono_."

"Drop the 'dono' and I'll consider it." She said seriously, choosing to ignore the hand he offered her as the terrain roughened to shale ground and the treeline thinned above to clouded sunshine. A sharp clean scent pervaded the air, a cool wind caressed her warm face. Her suspicions deepened as to their destination. Confirmed when the loose scree gave way to the wide blue ocean. The cliff they stood on towered high above a stretch of sandy beach, the horizon was a dim glint on the sea's surface.

Masamune said nothing at first, gazing out over the water. Rukia gazed as well, her expression softening. She had spent so much time agonizing over her mission and the little wargames of the Daimyo boys that she had failed to take in the beauty of the virginal land. Sendai truly was a beautiful province. Gradually she felt his questioning look as he awaited her judgment on the scene before them.

Never before had anyone sought her opinion, the feeling was a strange...but pleasant one. It took this human...a weak mortal man to view something of worth in her mind. "Thank you." She whispered, then feeling it inadequate. "It's lovely." And she turned a rare, gladdened smile to her silent companion. "I'd forgotten how beautiful nature could be in its purest form."

...

"They seem to be getting along." Kojuro marveled with some relief, leaves sprung back over his face, hiding him from sight just as his Lord and the petite girl walked through below. He had been worried for a while there that his Lord's pigheadedness would come out and ruin the evening. Kasuga was much better hidden, peering through a new-fangled spyglass in a tree above. "Indeed." she murmured once it was all clear.

...

Rukia wouldn't admit she was curious - well maybe a little - no! She staunched that thought at the bud. Curiosity meant she was just a little bit interested in her annoying admirer, never having a previous one to compare, she couldn't know Masamune was doing everything the wrong way.

She tried to tell herself it was only a routine check that made her travel the border to Sendai. It was a lovely country from the low-lying hills she glimpsed, villagers at work tending rice paddies, the distant sound of the ocean and occasional breeze wafting salted air...

She had just turned to leave the grounds of the Yamashiro when she collided with someone - or rather their chest -

"Oomph!" The newcomer cried, startled; Rukia simply bounced off the impressive décolletage and fell back on her behind, blinking up at the blond-haired woman clad in a very revealing outfit.

"Oh my- are you- by any chance...,"

A while later, the two women had retired to a copse of trees away from the castle grounds.

"Are you from the Date clan, Kasuga-san?"

"Oh, heavens no!" The woman chuckled musically, "my Lord possesses the whole of Echigo province, he is Uesugi Kenshin-sama."

"Then, why...?"

"It isn't simple curiosity, dear." She reassured her, "I was asked to provide help barring the fact that Katakura caught me trespassing where _they_ thought I shouldn't be."

"Oh."

Kasuga nodded soberly, "he was kind enough to let me pass without a fight. But besides that, how do you honestly feel?" The spy smiled conspiratorially, "without pressure from warlords declaring their love for you off the mountain top."

Rukia colored and looked shiftily away, "I-I don't know...," _I should know_ , she realized suddenly. Without meaning to, the words just came spilling out. "I - I mean he's annoying, impulsive...brash...idiotic and every manner of the kind of man my nii-sama wouldn't approve of!" _Also, the most damning of all_...

With this new piece of info - _she has a brother_ \- Kasuga's blue-eyed gaze softened on the petite girl perched in the cradle of the neighboring tree trunk, though she had to admit that assessment of the Dokuganryu was accurate to a T. "Beyond that, I can sense your confusion. Your heart and your mind seem to be sending out mixed signals about what you want. I'm not saying to ignore your family's possible objections to Date-sama, only to keep an open mind to your options. Do you understand?"

Rukia half-nodded, she thought she did. As crazy as this world was, with constant fighting, rampaging Hollows, not to mention the explosions, she was being told to think about what she wanted - not what her brother's expectations wanted (many of which would be dashed) not to mention the various rules any kind of human-Shinigami contact prohibited. Her head threatened to spin over what Kasuga advised.

The so-called Dokuganryu was one thing more however that she refused to give a word to.

 _He was real, and so very much alive_...

"I'll try," she managed, sounding more confident than she felt. The ninja gave her one last warm smile. "Follow your heart, Rukia-san."

…

 _How can I?_ She thought hopelessly, running through the night forest rife with the sound of hooting owls, the rustle of a cool ocean breeze and distant pound of the surf. Rather than calm her, she felt her agitation grow. It was more than the difference between life and death, station and her worth as a soul it was everything about them that seemed against them.

For a brief moment, she regretted saving his life. If she had allowed him to pass on after being wounded in battle, they never would've met. She would've konso'd him and he'd have passed onto Heaven or Hell depending on how one viewed Soul Society.

 _How can I think that?_ She chastised herself suddenly. He's so young with the rest of his life ahead of him. _The fool...doesn't even know my name_ , she realized suddenly. It was unlike Rukia to become so distracted with the thought of a mere, annoying human. Nor even be bothered by their trials and tribulations. She hadn't even realized there was a battle going on in the valley below the next ridge until she landed in the thick of it.

Swords flashed, horses bolted from the sound of nearby explosions. Fear touched her heart as she recognized the blue livery and the Date crest adorning the bloodstained bridle of a fallen beast of burden. She began her search just as the last straggling line of defending samurai broke to the far superior army led by another General from the Sendai fiefdom. Rukia could make little sense of their maneuvers, racing across the battlefield, leaving the fighting and the translucent forms of the fallen behind. They could be taken care of later, she thought, catching the trail of several swift moving creatures gathering together within the next clearing. Rukia broke through the trees as a black charger tore past her, neighing wildly in fright. Quickly scanning the area, she spotted Masamune who had dragged himself backward, away from the forest's edge.

They saw one another in the same breath.

"You—"

 _You. You. You. Always you!_

"It's not _You_. I have a name, you know." The hint of a blush colored her cheeks. Decisively, she kept her back to the fallen warrior, facing forward with the utmost intent of battle radiating from her small form. "My name is...Rukia." _Say it_ , she thought. _Say it to me_.

Her appearance had temporarily stunned the Hollows who rallied with snarls, some growled, releasing intense waves of malevolent-charged reiatsu. Rukia felt it all wash over her, calculating the odds silently of their number against her. Sode no Shirayuki promised it would be swift, deadly with the grace of a falling snowflake. Revolving the sword in her hand with the delicate motion of a silent dance, she heard the soft murmur of the human behind her.

"Ru—Rukia."

The slightest smile crossed her face.

It was enough – she cut through the Hollows mercilessly, destroying them with the ease born of practice, patience and a desire to protect. She lowered her sword, feeling the caress of its sealed power sync with her heart as she turned around. Masamune stared aghast at the display of raw power, perhaps slightly fearful then with his usual careless grace, grin as she extended her hand.

"That was...,"

"I know, _amazing_." She cocked her brow at him. "Call me Rukia-sama from now on."

"Only if you call me Masamune-dono, your Lord and Master."

"I don't think so," Rukia deadpanned, planting her fist in his madly grinning face. Kojuro and Kasuga sighed in the background. "And they were getting along so well," the Date retainer waned, depressed. The Uesugi spy propped her chin up in the palm of her hand, shaking her head with a smile. "I can't wait for the wedding party."

Finis

Disclaimer: Sengoku Basara and Bleach don't belong to me.

AN: Had this one on hold for ages, finally retouched it up for posting. Thanks for reading :)

No flames, haters or spam!

Reviews loved!


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